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Michelle Hung is a Chartered Financial Analyst and fee-only planner who left her corporate job to help people achieve financial independence.
Michelle Hung—a.k.a. The Sassy Investor— is a Chartered Financial Analyst, financial planner and two-time author who realized her worth the first time she asked for a well-deserved raise. Her most recent book, Investing for Teens: How to Save, Invest, and Grow Money (Rockridge Press, 2022), teaches young readers the basics of investing and personal finance. And her workbook, The Sassy Investor (Friesen Press, 2019), is a step-by-step guide to building an investment portfolio, featuring colourful illustrations to help readers understand the stock market. Learn what Hung has to say about everything money—from how to ask for a raise and have difficult money talks with a partner to how to deal with credit card debt.
My cousin was my biggest inspiration. He taught me a lot, and he told me to read about [investing gurus] Warren Buffett and Peter Lynch, which helped me get started with investing in stocks. My cousin studied business in university, and I’m not sure how he got himself into investing, but he certainly inspired me.
I hang out with my partner, family and friends. I go to hot yoga and play soccer a few times a week. I also make a lot of time for self-care, which includes reading and giving myself a relaxing facial.
I would be on the beach in Bora Bora. But I’d still be running my business, because I love what I do. Personal finance and investing are topics I’m very passionate about, and I believe many people will benefit from learning about them. I don’t see this as work, but instead helping people in need.
My mom gave me money to buy McDonald’s on a school trip to the zoo. I remember being very careful not to lose it—I had a little wallet strapped around my wrist. I don’t recall learning anything from it except the feeling that if I lost it, I would have no money to buy lunch.
I don’t recall buying a lot of stuff when I was young, but I did spend on things like going to the movies and eating out with friends.
My first job was working as a cashier at a drugstore/supermarket. I remember going straight to the bank so I could deposit the cheque. And then I bought a shirt that was on sale.
Buy now, pay later is very stressful! I racked up a lot of credit card debt and mismanaged money as a student. So if I could do it differently, I would have stuck to using my debit card—and if I didn’t have the money to buy something, I wouldn’t buy it. It was a very important lesson because it taught me not to treat my credit card like a piggy bank—not to mention the interest costs are so expensive.
Know your value and your worth. I’ve come across a lot of women who are afraid to ask for raises—myself included at one point. When I was working in corporate finance, I found out I was getting paid less than someone who was in a similar role to me but had fewer years of experience and was newer to the firm. That lit a fire under me, and I immediately booked a call with management. The call lasted for a whole 15 seconds, and they agreed that I wasn’t paid enough and said they were going to fix it. It was just an oversight because of the way the organization was structured, and we were going through some re-organization and other changes.
I was very prepared for my meeting, with notes explaining my value-add to the firm and why I deserved a raise, but I didn’t even need that at the end of the day. Asking for a raise is one of the things I coach my clients on. I’ve helped a lot of women get raises by preparing them for their meetings and helping them realize their worth.
I was a camp counsellor and I learned how to use a credit card from a colleague at camp when I was 17 years old. He told me he would max out his credit card, and then when he got paid he would use his entire paycheque to pay off the card. That was the worst advice ever because I followed a similar path, except my paycheques weren’t as big as the credit limit I received.
A large sum of money all at once, because I’d want to manage it on my own.
That you can’t invest in both the stock market and real estate. There’s this misconception out there that you must choose one or the other, or that one is better than the other. They’re very different products, and they are not mutually exclusive. You can invest in both if you’re financially able to!
That you need to start with a lot of money and that it takes a lot of time to get started. With the platforms that are available today, anyone can get started with very little money, even $20. It’s slow growth at first, and it may seem like it’s not worth it, but with time and consistency, eventually the money compounds. Investing in some ETFs [exchange-traded funds] will go a long way, and I believe it is the easiest (and least labour-intensive) way to grow money.
Lending money to my ex-boyfriend. I helped him out a lot during university, but even after he got a full-time job and was making a lot of money, he didn’t even attempt to pay me back, because we thought we were going to be together forever. We never had good conversations about money, and when I did ask for my money back, he got defensive. There were so many red flags, but I was young and didn’t know any better. He still owes me money, and the thought of the future value of it makes me want to vomit.
Value means the amount of joy or utility I receive when I pay for something. Value can be as simple as a meal—was the meal worth it? Or a vacation I really needed in order to reset and have a great time with other people.
Some things I would spend money on that someone else might not would be a designer purse. I own a few that are over 10 years old that I still wear and are in excellent condition. When I do the math and amortize it, it works out to be great value each year.
I would say my first house as a university student. I didn’t want to pay rent, and instead, I wanted to make money from students renting my house. Somehow, I was able to convince my parents to help me—this was when home prices were like $150,000. I did the research, spoke with a real estate agent and went house shopping near my university in Waterloo, [Ont.] I had to make sure the math worked out, and that the home was in good condition and in a desirable location where students—and I—would want to live.
The less you have, the better. However, I do believe in good debt versus bad debt. If you borrow money to invest in something that will increase in value in the future—for example, a house, an education or a business—then I think that’s fine. However, in the current climate, I’m seeing families struggle because of the rising cost of living, and some have no other choice but to turn to debt to fulfill their short-term obligations. Credit provides them some purchasing power in the short term. Otherwise, I would say to avoid debt by getting your budget together, saving money and living below your means.
An all-inclusive vacation to Jamaica.
100-Baggers: Stocks that Return 100-to-1 and How to Find Them by Chistopher Mayer. It was an excellent read. I pick my own stocks, so I’m always looking to improve my strategy and learn from other investors.
One debit card and one credit card. If I need cash, I can use my debit card to take out money from the ATM. Also, if for some reason my credit card gets locked (which has happened before while I was travelling), then I have a backup when I’m out. I also have another set of debit and credit cards at home. I keep two wallets—just in case I lose one set, I have another as a backup.
I’ve kept this teddy bear since I was a kid. I always pictured if the house was burning down, what I would grab first—it would be that, and a photo album of my dog who passed away eight years ago. I don’t have digital copies of those photos, so they cannot be replaced. While these aren’t materially valuable, they have a lot of sentimental value to me.
To buy a house in Toronto.
Rent! For now, until it makes sense to buy.
Buy!
Invest!
Budget!
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